Does anyone out there have any experience in using a barcode reader to populate MACRO variables on Fanuc machining centers?
We do a lot of 1-off machining and would like to have a way to quickly input the variables.
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Does anyone out there have any experience in using a barcode reader to populate MACRO variables on Fanuc machining centers?
We do a lot of 1-off machining and would like to have a way to quickly input the variables.
Were you thinking of bar code MDI directly into the control or into some other utility like Excel or Word?
I want to input variables using a bar code reader directly into the machine control.
Unless your machine has a true PC front end, I can't imagine how you could. A normal CNC control would not be able to support the bar cod scanner's driver first off then you would need to load the bar code's font. I am rolling out a bar code driven job tracking system and later a app to automatically generate programs based on part numbers(parametric program and the variables will be pulled out of an existing design data base) I purchased a lot of 20 PCs on ebay and am putting one at each of my CNCs. In a lot the PCs were cheap around $135 each. I don't know if that helps but it is how we got around a similar issue.
Regards
Sorry for digging up an old thread but did you succeed?
I've saw tutorial on CodeProject for reading and creating barcode in excel with macro. So anyone need help can search it.
The way to accomplish this project is to set up an RS232 interface on a Windows PC, or even better would be something like a Raspberry Pi running Linux.Quote:
Originally Posted by OldBones
You write a small program on the Linux box that reads the bar-codes and keeps them in memory.
Your RS232 serial interface on the CNC control can be accessed using a custom macro to request data from the computer (Linux or Windows).. (I have done that RS232 piece of it on my old Fanuc 11M).
When the software on the Raspberry (Linux) or PC (Windows) receives an RS232 request message, it responds with the appropriate data.
In this way, your data doesn't necessarily have to be what's in the bar-code tag, but any data you call up using that tag number.
You can actually store a spreadsheet (CSV format) with all the dimensions for a particular series of parts. The bar-code identifies which version of parts you're cutting from the work-order sheet or a sticker on the material.
100% this would work and it should be extremely easy to implement. I have had Fanuc talking to Arduino and Windows PC... You guys just have to do the implementation.